New Mexico Business Weekly: EIB Approves CO2 Reduction Plan

The Environmental Improvement Board voted four-to-one on Dec. 6 to impose carbon limits on the state’s largest greenhouse gas emitters.

Under the newly approved regulations, outlined in a plan drawn up by the Santa Fe-based nonprofit New Energy Economy, all utilities and oil and gas facilities that emit more than 25,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases annually will be required to reduce emissions by 3 percent per year below 2010 levels starting in 2013.

Board Chair Gay Dillingham said the EIB approved the NEE petition as a backup plan to the Environment Department’s cap-and-trade program, which the EIB approved in November. Under the ED plan, all facilities that emit more than 25,000 MT per year must begin reducing emissions by two percent annually starting in 2012.